When it comes to business, decision-making is a crucial task, but it is also one of the most difficult. Data-driven organizations recognize the importance of using the right data at the right time to make decisions, but finding and accessing that data can be a challenge when vital pieces of information are scattered among disparate BI and analytics platforms in the organization. These information silos create challenges and introduce uncertainty in the decision-making process.
The Problem With Disparity
As companies empower employees with BI and analytics to work with data, what often happens is that the number of tools and applications in the ecosystem grows rapidly due to infrastructure needs and preferences. This creates siloed information and a lack of visibility into all the analytics assets that exist and are available – and often necessary – to make decisions. So what exactly are the problems that arise from having disparate systems?
Inefficiency. The ease of doing any given task largely depends on whether or not you have reasonable access to your tools. In 2018, a study conducted by Braintree said that employees use 10-15 applications on average for their work. These employees lose valuable time not only switching between platforms and signing in to each, but this also disrupts thought processes and requires refocused attention to proceed with the intended task. This is just a peek into the inefficiency that happens when a business contends with information scattered in disparate systems. Wouldn’t it be better to provide a single point of access to allow employees to seamlessly view and use all the information assets of the company?
Vulnerability. The more complex the decision, the more risk can be introduced in the process. Each added step or connection not only wastes time, it increases the likelihood of something going wrong. At best, this could simply cause a misstep or give your company a minor headache. The worst that could happen is you’ll have a disaster in your hands. Simplifying the decision-making process with a platform that provides guardrails and assurances can reduce the vulnerability.
Poor Decisions. Frequent, consistent operational decisions are necessary in order to run the business well. Without access to all the relevant information to make operational decisions, companies risk making bad decisions and pushing the organization forward perhaps in the wrong direction. When you have a clear picture into all the appropriate factors impacting your business decisions, you are better able to position yourself for the best possible outcomes and be competitive for the future. Recognizing the analytic assets available to you is part of confidently moving forward.
Unnecessary Spending. At the end of the day, every factor that can affect your operations shifts your profits and bottom line. And most of those listed above can really pull you down. It costs a pretty penny to deal with disparate systems, so. This is another area where a single platform that catalogs cross-platform analytic assets and supplies usage statistics will pay off.
The ZenOptics Solution
ZenOptics presents concrete solutions to the problems caused by siloed, isolated BI and analytics. It supports operational decision making by providing a single point of access to information, an analytics catalog with associated metadata from the source systems, report and analytics governance, and usage statistics for optimizing the environment. Using the ZenOptics Decision Confidence Platform, decision-makers can enjoy simplified access to information, visibility into all the information available, and the guardrails of a governed environment.
The ZenOptics Decision Confidence Platform is based on three major pillars:
Access. With the integration established by smart connectors, ZenOptics ensures that customers are able to easily retrieve relevant information, regardless of which platform it exists within. ZenOptics gives you better insight through a catalog of information assets, automated metadata, and inherited security and authorizations for smooth access.
Assure. It’s not enough to have data available. It’s also crucial to organize and govern these assets so that they flow through prescribed paths for usability. ZenOptics gives you the ability to certified reports, map ideal workflows, deliver recommendations, and even standardize terms with BI glossary.
Accelerate. The features within the acceleration layer contribute to a consistent, efficient decision-making process for you. This is perfect for collaboration and communication between teams or for setting “favorites” for a personalized work experience. Other features available are workflow automation, usage statistics, and cross-platform search.
Among those who will benefit from this are business users and analysts, BI stewards, and IT Management. ZenOptics can deliver increased productivity and confidence in decision-making, a governed environment for driving decisions, and financial optimization of BI and Analytics investments.
Published March 3, 2021